Ghost Rider: Ultimate Vengeance
by Scribe E
Summary: The Spirit of Vengeance arises as Daniel Ketch sees no other option. Chapter 2 now up.
1. The Beginning

Ghost Rider: Ultimate Vengeance  
  
"It's so cold." A lone figure stood in the midst of a large black view that stretched as far as the eye could see. He feel to his knees, chains scraping against the side of his leather jacket. The fire that flickered around his bones seemed to shrink as surely as he sunk to the ground. "And yet...."  
  
His gloves reached out into the depths of the darkness, seeing images of the past. Things appeared to his eyes that he had only remembered in dreams. Images of life, of love, and most importantly of vengeance. Flames burst out of his sockets at the mere thought of the word. To think, one word could encompass everything that he lived and died for. Although, he wasn't really dead now was he? He was a spirit. A spirit of vengeance to be precise.   
  
"My flames dwindle. Is it because I have not enacted vengeance for such a long time, or is it something more?" Placing his right hand on his opposite hand, he pulled off the glove as quickly as he could and immediately looked down at his fingers of bone. The hellfire went on and off as a candle would, blowing in the wind.   
  
"The lack of vengeance does this to my form. I have not been out in the world for such a long time, it takes its toll. Vengeance is all I am and all I seek in my existence." The Spirit of Vengeance known as the Ghost Rider's voice began to rise in volume as he spoke more and more sentences, flames bursting around him. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE WITHOUT VENGEANCE, DANIEL? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"  
  
Danny Ketch woke up in his bed in a cold sweat. He flung the cover off his body and went to his bathroom down the hall. Nervously swinging open his medicine cabinet, he scrambled through a number of different pills and liquids. Just as he found the pills he was searching for, he dropped the capsule that was holding them into his sink.  
  
"No. No! NOOOOO!" Daniel held his hands against his head as flames began to spring forth from between his fingers. Looking into the mirror in front of him, he watched as his flesh began to run off his face. Becoming near hysterical, he reached for his pills and pushed down as many as he could. As he felt the pills slowly slide down his throat, he sunk to the floor shaking with his arms crossed over his head. Danny once again put his hands up to his face and head and was relieved to feel no melting skin or burning hair. "Oh thank God."   
  
"Daniel..." A voice burst forth from Danny Ketch's mind, a cold raspy voice that sounded like nails scratching across a chalkboard.  
  
"What is it Noble?" Ketch said with his arms still crossed over his head."  
  
"You realize you cannot keep this up forever."  
  
"Oh can't I, Noble?" Danny pushed himself off the ground and placed his pills labeled 'emotional suppressants' back into the cabinet. His hands reached for the water faucets and turned them so a small stream of water would flow through his hands. Splashing the water across his face, he looked into the mirror not to see his own face, but the face of the Ghost Rider.  
  
"No Danny, you can't. We need to have a conversation. NOW!"  
  
"At that very same time, in a lone skyscraper overlooking the skyline of the city, something was brewing within the mind of the owner of this large monument to mankind's advancement. This man in an expensive black suit that seemed to be undistinguishable from the shadows that surrounded him was watching the lights of the city flicker.  
  
"Mr. Black?" Another man walked out on the terrace where Mr. Black was standing, hands on the rail.   
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I was just wondering if I could leave for tonight, seeing as how much of my business is taken care of."  
  
"Not as of yet, Colin, I still have one set of business for you to take care of. Take a note."  
  
"Very well sir." The young assistant straightened his glasses and took out a notepad.  
  
"Spread the word that we're going to give the NYPD a little love tap to show my arrival in the big apple. Although, I am a little out of ideas on how to send them the message. Any suggestions, my good boy?"  
  
"I think that a more forceful tone is needed to deliver the thought."  
  
"Clever as always." Mr. Black smiled with his teeth glaring in the moonlight, seemingly sharp enough to be considered fangs. "Very well Colin, tell the gangs to give them a bloody nose. The mob bosses come later."  
  
"Will do sir."  
  
"Oh and Colin." The young assistant spun around in his tracks.  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"You know the problem with these new mob bosses and gangs nowadays?"  
  
"What's that Mr. Black?"  
  
"They're human." Mr. Black smiled as his assistant looked at the albino-skinned, white haired man. "And lay off the Mr. Black stuff, its Blackout."  
  
"NO!" Danny Ketch yelled out as he found himself standing in front of the Ghost Rider in the landscapes of his mind.  
  
"Daniel, I know how you feel about me." The spirit stretched his arms out to his human side, trying to show some semblance of comfort.  
  
"I SAID NO!" The spirit's arms were slapped away as tears began to fall down Danny's face. "How could you know how I feel, you bastard? The first time you were allowed to come out of me, the flames from your 'arrival' killed my whole family."  
  
"I cannot tell you anything else besides the fact that vengeance needed to be served Daniel."  
  
"....." Ketch remained speechless for a few seconds as his anger began to reach the breaking point. "That's your excuse? That? You killed a whole family simply to stop an accidental hit and run that had happened outside our door. She was barely even hurt, you know that don't you?"  
  
"Blood spilled is blood spilled, Daniel. We have been bonded with one another since the day you were born, you would think that some losses were acceptable to deter the loss of innocent blood."  
  
"Not at that cost Noble. Not only did you kill a family of innocent people, but you also exposed that man who was responsible for the hit and run to that horrible stare of yours. You destroyed his soul."  
  
"He spilled blood, therefore the penance stare was necessary. Sinners will sin again, its part of their nature. I am truly sorry for your family Daniel. The only comfort I can give you is that my penance has been served out for them and vengeance has been served in my case."  
  
"Why you cold son of a..." The young Ketch threw a fist at the rider's face and made contact. The spirit's face turned slightly to the side, unharmed. Danny's hand, however, was burned from the hellfire that surrounded the spirit's head.   
  
"We're finished here."  
  
"Daniel wait!" But before the spirit of vengeance could get Ketch to stay, he was gone from the mindscape.   
  
"Damn it Daniel, there will come a time when you will suffer because you did not allow me to be released."  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Ghost Rider: Ultimate Vengeance. Stick around, read, review, and all that good stuff. If you thought this chapter was good, wait till things start to heat up. Around the corner, there'll be blood, death, questions answered, mysteries discovered, and of course, Vengeance. 


	2. Chapter 2

Ghost Rider: Ultimate Vengeance  
  
Chapter 2  
  
The clouds over the dark city swirled around in the night air, as if they had a mind of their own. Forming into different shapes and spirals, it was as if the clouds were given sentience and they began to realize the coming of something. Something which had not been stirred in quite some time. Something which longed for vengeance.  
  
"LET! ME! OUT!" The demon's fists slammed against the ground of the mindscape which trapped him. The hard "rock" beneath his fingers turned to dust from the might of the Ghost Rider's blows. Realizing the futility in this, he raised himself up and tried once again to talk some common sense into his other half. "Daniel. Please."  
  
"No, Noble." Danny said, straigthening his tie in front of his bathroom mirror. Daniel had made plans the night before to take his girlfriend, Officer Katrina Johnson, of six months out to dinner at a quiant chinese restaurant in the village. Here they would have a few drinks, eat some sushi and in her fortune cookie, Katrina would find not a fortune, but a wedding ring from Danny. At this point Danny would propose and hopefully his would be bride would accept, beginning the lovely, yet common life the two of them would share. "Tonight is my night, and like always, you won't have a part in it."  
  
"But imagine the good we could do for the world."  
  
"I'm not buying it Noble. Your definition of 'good' is burning away the souls of those who have committed crimes."  
  
"Yes? And what of it?" Daniel sighed, still talking with the spirit of vengeance in his mind.  
  
"Thats not the way things work in this day and age. You want to fight crime, you do it by the book. You do it with the law. You become a cop if need be but you don't take it into your own hands."  
  
"From what I have heard, the justice system is quite ineffective and corrupt at times. It leaves my sense of verification lacking."  
  
"You don't hear anything from in there except for my voice. How could you have heard things?" Daniel asked.  
  
"I have my ways."  
  
"Whatever." Danny walked away from the mirror, checked his breath and walked out of the bathroom. "Tonight is my night all right, lets just get that clear."  
  
"Nights cannot be held in one's possesion Daniel. They are unpredictable, dangerous, and cry out for something more."  
  
"And I suppose thats you right?"  
  
The Ghost Rider said nothing, knowing whatever he said would fall upon deaf ears when it came to his human host. Danny in turn, sighed once again, rolled his eyes, and walked out of his apartment, on his way to the date.   
  
"Vengeance comes whether you like it or not Daniel. Eventually, I will be released and the cycle will begin anew. Pray that I'm not as unfeeling in the 'property' rights of this body as you have been."  
  
The scene changes to a large skyscraper, engulfed in shadow, which is owned by the illustrious Mister Black. He is found sitting in a large throne-like chair, a glass of red liquid in his right hand, stirring it slowly. In front of him is his assistant Colin, dropping a number of police badges on the ground, many of them covered in blood.  
  
"How many does that make my dear boy?" Blackout asked, sipping on his glass.  
  
"That would make fifteen this week sir. I think that the authorities in the city have more than realized your arrival in their fair metropolis don't you think?" Colin replied, hands behind his back and posture straight up, almost like a hardened soldier.  
  
"You know Colin, if anyone else had questioned me as you did right now, I would have snapped them in two." Blackout broke the glass in his hands and walked right up in front of his assitant, who was now sweating in fear. "Lucky for you your extremely loyal, and its hard to find loyalty of such caliber in this day and age, don't you agree?"  
  
"Qu-Quite Sir." Colin let out a sigh of relief as Blackout walked back to his large chair.  
  
"No, you see these number of cop killings have been nice and all; might I add Colin that the gutter trash you assigned to these jobs were top of the line, but we need something to hit them a little more close to home." As Blackout finished the sentence, Colin threw a file at his feet.  
  
"I foresaw this and have lined up a number of candidates who may just fit the bill."  
  
"Colin my boy, what would I do without you?" Blackout perused through the number of pictures in the file. "Too fat. Too ugly. Not my type. A positive? That won't do. Ahhhhh."  
  
"You find someone to your liking sir?" Colin asked, Blackout licking his lips now as he looked over the photo.  
  
"You could say that Colin." Blackout threw the picture to his assitant.  
  
"Ah, an excellent choice sir. Can't get much better than killing a cop who happens to be the Mayor's daughter."  
  
"No you can't. Make the proper arrangements, work the channels. With this hit, we'll be known city wide. Bring me the head of...."  
  
"Katrina!" Danny yelled to his girlfriend as she waiting impatiently in front of the chinese restraurant.  
  
"Daniel Ketch. I swear, one more minute and I was going to go home. Where were you?"  
  
"Sorry." Danny replied, giving her a peck on the cheek. "I got into one of those fights with those one of those people who never seems to get the hint that they're not wanted."   
  
"I know those. I fight with my dad all the time cause he hates the idea that his little Princess would ever become a cop."  
  
"You shouldn't sweat over that. You should be thankful you even have a loved one to care for you like that. Him being the mayor and all doesn't hurt either."   
  
"You know Danny, he has given some thought into giving you that job on his business team." Katrina said, taking Danny's arm and walking into the restaurant with him.  
  
"Oh gee, but I really wanted to spend the rest of my life fixing up motorcycles and letting my master's degree go to waste." Danny replied with a goofy look on his face.  
  
"Well then I'll just tell my dad to recline the offer, Mister Greasemonkey."  
  
"Har Har. It's getting cold, lets get inside and get something to..." Danny heard the sound in the distance. A loud thundershock type sound which was that of a .45 caliber going off. Before he had time to even think about an action, the bullet from the gun had hit its mark. The blood from the hit splattered onto Danny's face and jacket, it almost seemed as if it were going in slow motion. Sound stopped, the scenery seemed to dissappear around Danny as he looked down at his girlfriend. She did not move, her body was limp, and the only thing Danny could see was the blood coming out of the small hole in her forehead made by the bullet.  
  
"BULLSEYE!" Yelled a large man covered in tattoos, as he walked up to the now shaking Danny and the now dead Katrina.  
  
"Yeah Yeah." Replied a smaller man next to him, lighting up a cigarette. "Just make sure we get out of here before the cops come."  
  
"What about him?" Asked the third man, much younger than the other two, as he pointed at Danny.  
  
"Waste him?"  
  
"Nah. We came for the girl and we got her. Anyone else is inconsequential. We don't need that much blood on our hands."  
  
"Says you." Replied the tattoed man. "Ah look the little babies shaking."  
  
Danny fell to the ground and began spasiming.  
  
"Look, lets go already." Cried the younger man. He began running from the scene and the other two followed suit. Danny however, remained. Covered in blood and spasiming from the shock, something was wheling up in him.  
  
"Do you see now Daniel? Do you see what has become of the world due to my abscense?" The Ghost Rider shouted in his head.  
  
"......." Daniel did not reply, still too shaken to say anything, tears streaming down his face.  
  
"*Sigh* Daniel. I am truly sorry for your loss. Please, let me make it right."   
  
"......." Danny stopped himself from spasiming, arose to his feet, and wiped the blood off his face. He looked down to Katrina, prayed a silent prayer, and let the change come. "May God forgive me for what I'm about to do."  
  
20 Minutes Later.....  
  
"How much you think we'll get for this?" Asked the large tattoed man, leaning against the wall of the dark alley.  
  
"Not much this time, but it'll show the big man that he can count on us in a pinch. That's when we'll start seeing the big bucks. Right kid?" The smaller man looked over to the young man, puking in the corner.  
  
"Right." He wiped the vomit from his lips. "Whatever."  
  
"Awwww, the baby hasn't killed anyone before has he?" The tattoed man walked over to the young man and kneeled beside him. "Better go back to your mommy kid, this sort of thing ain't for the younger crowd."  
  
"SHUT YOUR HOLE! I'M AS GOOD AS....What the?" The young man stood up from the corner and looked into the shadows. "Yo-You guys just see something over there?"  
  
"Like the boogyman you mean? Oooo I'm shakin." The tattoed man walked over to the shadows, past his two companions and squinted his eyes. "There ain't nothin...AAAKKK!"  
  
Before he could finish his scream, the chain was wrapped around his neck and flung him into the shadows.  
  
"OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" The smaller man asked as he reached for his pistol.  
  
"I-I-I'm GETTING OUT OF HERE!" The young man sprinted away in the opposite direction.  
  
"GOD DAMMIT KID! WAIT A SEC..." The smaller man lost sight of the kid and looked to his side. His throat went dry and his eyes opened wide as he saw a large black motorcycle with flaming wheels careening towards him. He screamed as he jumped out of the way of the hellish motorcycle, but not fast enough to save his legs which were fractured underneath the flaming wheels. "AAAAAAAAA!"  
  
"No." The smaller man looked up to the motorcycle seeing a figure sitting on the monstrous machine. He was not able to get a good look at the face, but the large exterior of leather, spikes, and chains were enough to put the fear of God into him. "Destroyed appendages is not something for which screaming is validated. What I'm about to do to you now, well, thats a different story."  
  
5 Minutes later....  
  
"Oh God. Oh God. Oh God." The young man stopped sprinting and slumped in an abandoned building. He tried to catch his breath and stop himself from shaking at the same time. He looked at his quivering hand and clenched it into a steady fist as he took out his pistol.  
  
"You thought you could get away?" The cold voice echoed off the crumbling walls as the young man began shooting hysterically into the dark. As the last bullet was fired from his gun, the young man kept pulling the trigger, only clicking sounds being the response. Before he could even think about reloading, the gun was whipped out of his hand by a chain that sprawled out of the darkness.  
  
The young man scowered the darkness for the source of the chain and was able to find it. The figure was clad in black leather, with spikes protruding from his waist, wrists, boots, and shoulders. Chains were wrapped around various parts of his body. His head had no humanely features whatsoever, instead, there was only a skull, lit aflame by some unholy source.   
  
"Oh....God..."  
  
"It's too late to pray for salvation." The Ghost Rider walked closer to the young man, the moon reflecting off the demon's chains. His boots snapped against the floor, creating an unearthly sound. "God can no longer hear you. Only a spirit can hear your pleas, and that spirit is one of vengeance."  
  
"NO! GOD NO! I-I-I didn't want to do it. They made me! I didn't even kill her man! I just had to be there, see how it was done. I had to get my street cred anyway I could, you know? If I didn't do this they would've killed me! YOU HAVE TO LISTEN! Please, I'm just a kid." Tears began to fall down the young man's face.  
  
"The consequences of your plight and your age are insignificant. Whether you pulled the trigger yourself no longer matters." The Ghost Rider grabbed the chain off his chest and flung it at the crying would-be gang member. It wrapped around him as if it had a mind of its own, making the young man incapable of moving. "The girl you murdered was 28 years old. She was an officer for the New York Police Department. She would have had a family in her lifetime and would have saved many more lives in her career. Now, you will feel her pain a thousand fold."  
  
"NOOOOOOOOO...." Flame arose out of the rider's eyes and burned their way into the eyes of the young man. The young man let out scream after scream until his voice gave out. Ghost Rider's penance stare had done its work. The young man slumped to the floor as the Ghost Rider called back his chain. His pupils were now completely blank, his soul shattered beyond belief.  
  
"Vengeance has been served."  
  
End Chapter 2 


End file.
